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THE last moments of an ISIS fighter who was killed by a sniper were captured on his chest-mounted camera.

It's believed the terrorist - who is heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar ('God is great') as he opens fire - was fighting Kurdish militia before being gunned down.

 The terrorist is fighting alongside another jihadi
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The terrorist is fighting alongside another jihadiCredit: LiveLeak
 The jihadi falls to the floor after a gunshot rings out
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The jihadi falls to the floor after a gunshot rings outCredit: LiveLeak

The rattle of automatic gunfire is suddenly punctuated by the crack of a lone gunshot and the terrorist cries out in pain.

The camera topples to the floor and then lies still. It is not known where the footage was filmed.

The Kurds are at the forefront of the fight against the Islamic State in the area around Mosul, it's last Iraqi stronghold.

Fighters for the death cult forced women, children and the elderly to walk alongside them for days as human shields to cover their retreat to Mosul, separating out older boys and fighting-aged men along the way for an unknown fate, villagers said.

Reuters spoke to a woman and an elderly man inside the Islamic State-held city, who were part of group of families forced to leave the villages of Safiya and Ellezaga, about 30 km (nearly 20 miles) and 30 miles to the south.

 The fighter shouts out in pain and then the camera lies still
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The fighter shouts out in pain and then the camera lies stillCredit: LiveLeak

Children and the elderly were released when they arrived in Mosul on Tuesday and told to stay with relatives, they said, speaking by phone from one of the few places where there is still mobile coverage, on the city's edges.

A resident of Mosul, Rayyan, said he saw the families when they arrived in the city, "their bare feet bleeding and covered with dust as if coming from under the rubble."

"We cried when we saw them," he said.

Reuters could not independently verify the villagers' accounts, but they echoed reports from advancing Iraqi forces that Islamic State fighters have been taking civilians with them as they pull back towards the city.

Mosul is by far the largest city Islamic State fighters have ever held and now the group's last stronghold in Iraq. The ground offensive, now 11 days old, is expected to be the biggest battle in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Islamic State, also known as Daesh, ISIS or ISIL, has a history of seeking protection by holding civilian hostages in other cities its fighters have defended.

 ISIS militants are on the back foot in Syria and Iraq
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ISIS militants are on the back foot in Syria and IraqCredit: PA:Press Association Images

For the men, the walk ended in Hammam al-Alil, a town about 10 miles south of Mosul where Iraqi officials say Islamic State is killing former members of the police and army who had lived in areas under its control.

They haven't been heard of since, their relatives said.

"The members of Daesh called on the population of the village to gather in the school from the mosque's loudspeakers," said the woman, who gave her name as Fatima.

"Then they separated the women, the elderly and the boys over 14 from the families, and made us walk to Mosul.

"One of them was shouting: 'Quick, quick, otherwise the unbelievers will kill your children and rape your women," she said. "Another was repeatedly warning that anyone caught making a phone call would be shot dead."

Abu Ahmed, in his early sixties, said the militants didn't use cars in their retreat, fearing air strikes.

He walked with his daughters and his grandchildren from Ellazaga, sleeping two days in the open. The militants took away one of his sons.

"We know nothing about him, he said, and we're worried that he could have been executed."

As many as 1.5 million people are still believed to be trapped inside Mosul, and the United Nations fears for a humanitarian disaster, forecasting up to 1 million could be uprooted and thousands of others held in peril by the militants.

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